Creating a Charitable Fund

The newly created charitable funds and gifting vehicles offered at Midlands Community Foundation provide an opportunity for individuals, organizations and corporations to “invest in the power of community.” By partnering with the community, we work together to help generate funds to support our local needs. This proactive approach helps develop and fund programs that will have a real impact in our community. Midlands Community Foundation will continue to build a strong Foundation to fulfill the priorities and stay true to the communities we serve.

Midlands Community Foundation provides you with a simple, powerful and highly personal approach to giving. We offer a variety of giving tools to help donors achieve their charitable goals. We have established the opportunity for the community to create or donate to charitable funds. Donations can be in the form of cash, stocks, bonds, real estate, or other assets. Most charitable gifts qualify for maximum tax advantages under federal law.

What do you want your fund to do?

Affiliated Fund (support your local community)

Affiliated Fund

An Affiliated Fund is created by a committee of local community leaders. These local leaders will educate family, friends and businesses about the benefit of supporting such a fund. Midlands Community Foundation will handle the administrative details which allow you the time to grow your local community fund.

An Affiliated Fund is a collection of assets (endowed and non-endowed) whose principal and income are designated by a community foundation to fulfill charitable needs in a specified community. In operation, an Affiliated Fund will piggyback on Midlands Community Foundation’s infrastructure — “back office” financial, legal and administrative systems, investment services and often, program and grantmaking services.

Typically, an Affiliated Fund is defined by a geographic territory of its service area — a neighborhood, city, region or other physical place.

Designated Fund

Helping local organizations sustain and grow.

A Designated Fund supports the good work of a specific program or project. This fund channels your gift to a charitable cause that provides a lasting benefit.

Designated funds are component funds of Midlands Community Foundation created by the donor to support the good work of a specific nonprofit organization that has touched the donor’s life. These designated funds establish a funding source for a particular organization. Many nonprofits have strong relationships with donors who consistently support their organizations. A designated fund can provide a lasting, mutually beneficial arrangement for both the nonprofit and the donor. It can be created by an individual or a couple, a family, a business or a nonprofit organization that seeks to benefit a specific cause or organization.

Because it’s given through Midlands Community Foundation, the donor’s gift provides the nonprofit organization funding, but also the power of endowment. These designated funds can be set up as an expendable fund or an endowed fund. These two structures allow flexibility of the donor’s wishes.

An expendable fund allows the donor to access the fund’s principal to provide immediate impact in the community. This type of fund has no minimum dollar requirements and is readily accessible to the donor for their charitable interests.

An endowed fund ensures that the fund’s principal will not be spent and can grow over time, providing a source of lasting support. Midlands Community Foundation’s economies of scale provide a donor the benefits of a diverse investment portfolio with financial stability and independence, allowing greater flexibility in carrying out the nonprofit mission. It is with these permanent endowments stewarded by Midlands Community Foundation that secures the community’s favorite charities in perpetuity.

Donor Advised Fund

A Flexible Approach to Individual and Family Philanthropy

A Donor Advised Fund allows you to make an irrevocable tax-deductible contribution to the Foundation. Any time thereafter you can work with the Foundation in helping to direct distributions to the qualified charitable organizations that matter the most to you.

Do you want to maintain advisory control of your charitable donations? A Donor Advised Fund allows you to make an irrevocable tax-deductible contribution to the Foundation. This fund creates the freedom and flexibility families and individuals need to define and accomplish their charitable goals.

A Donor Advised Fund provides donors maximum flexibility; immediate tax benefits; tax free growth of funds; the ability to schedule charitable contributions over time; a record of donations; and freedom from the responsibility and cost of legal and administrative details. These features enable donors to focus their philanthropy on the rewards of giving — building their own community, supporting the charitable causes in which they believe and working together as a family.

Benefits

Donor Advised Funds embody a number of benefits that cannot be achieved by individuals making annual charitable contributions. Among the advantages are:

Field of Interest Fund

Connecting personal values to high-impact opportunities.

A Field of Interest Fund designates and supports a particular area of charitable interest. Examples include, but are not limited to, youth/children, health, environment and art.

The Midlands Community Foundation provides a portfolio of options that enable donors to contribute to the ongoing needs and operational budgets of worthwhile organizations and causes. One of those options, the “Field of Interest” Fund, allows donors to designate and support a particular area of charitable interest.

Examples of Field of Interest Funds include, but are not limited to, youth/children, education, health, elderly and disabled, arts, literature, culture, recreation and entertainment, community support, economic development, environment, conservation and animal welfare.

A Field of Interest Fund offers a number of benefits, including:

Flexibility: There is no limit to the list of areas that an individual can support. The donor can contribute to an existing Field of Interest Fund; or with the required minimum contribution, the donor can name the area of interest and an endowed fund can be created to benefit that particular field.

Locality: A Field of Interest Fund can be established within a particular county or community.

Specific Focus: A donor can name a general area for support, such as troubled youth, or choose a more specific focus, such as drug abuse counseling or prevention of teen pregnancy. Donors can create a fund to benefit the arts, or further narrow the purpose to support training for disadvantaged young artists.

Adaptability: A Field of Interest Fund keeps up with the times. For example, the arts will always depend on private philanthropy and the welfare of young people will always be a concern. But as times change and new programs are developed, Field of Interest Funds will adapt to meet contemporary needs rather than tie donor contributions into a few specific charities.

Potential for Growth: Any individual or organization can contribute any amount to an established Field of Interest Fund. By combining Field of Interest donations into a larger pool, the fund is expanded to provide even greater benefits.

Legacy: Unlike one-time donations to specific organizations, Field of Interest Funds continue to grow and support the particular field of interest year after year. All contributions to a Field of Interest Fund are added to the principal of the fund and will continue to benefit the intended charitable cause into the future.

With a Field of Interest Fund, the maintenance is left up to us. Our staff continually monitors changing community needs so that you can be sure grants made in the name of your fund make the most impact in your field of interest and create your personal legacy of giving.

Memorial Fund (honor the name and accomplishments of a deceased loved one)

Memorial Fund

A Memorial Fund can help share the memories created by family and friends.

Giving the “gift of memories” can be one of the most comforting and rewarding donations. While most bereavement gifts are meant to be given soon after a loss, these gifts can be received at any time, even months or years after a loss. The memorial gift given to Midlands Community Foundation can live in perpetuity or can be distributed immediately to a specific charity or to several nonprofit groups specified by the Memorial Fund.

Types of Memorial Funds

Consider the following when setting up a Memorial Fund for a loved one at Midlands Community Foundation:

Do you want to support a specific issue? A Field of Interest Fund designates and supports a particular area of charitable interest. Examples include, but not limited to youth/children, health, environment and art.

Do you have certain organizations you want to support? A Designated Fund supports the good work of a specific non-profit organization. This fund channels your gift to a charitable organization that provides a lasting and mutually beneficial arrangement for both the nonprofit and the loved one.

Do you want to support a certain organization? A Donor Advised Fund allows you to choose a different charity or cause to donate each year. This fund partners with Midlands Community Foundation who will recommend donations to help organizations important to you.

A Memorial Fund can be named after your loved one, be left anonymous or called whatever you would like. Midlands Community Foundation’s staff can help you determine what type of fund you want and the amount you need to set up the fund. With the ever changing community needs, it is Midlands Community Foundation’s purpose to create a personal legacy of giving for you and your loved one.

Organizational Endownment Fund

An Organizational Endowment Fund allows nonprofit organizations to create a fund to ensure the services they provide will have longevity. The nonprofit and its supporters will benefit from professional management and gain additional awareness in the community through the Foundation’s resource materials.

An Organizational Endowment Fund supports a certain nonprofit organization to ensure the services they provide will have longevity. With an Organizational Endowment Fund, the nonprofit and its supporters will benefit from professional management and gain additional awareness in the community through the Foundation’s resource materials.

Organizational Endowments are established by 501(c)3 organizations to benefit the organization itself. The income provided by an Organizational Endowment Fund makes nonprofit organizations less dependent on their own future fundraising efforts.

The minimum dollar requirement for an Organizational Endowment Fund is $10,000. Organizational Endowments are stewarded by Midlands Community Foundation, securing the community’s favorite charities, causes or projects in perpetuity.

Scholarship Fund (provide for the educational needs of a deserving student)

Scholarship Fund

A Scholarship Fund can be established to help local students pursue their dreams and goals at colleges, universities, and trade or technical schools after high school graduation. This fund allows the donor to give back to the community through their name or loved one.

Establishing a Scholarship Fund is the contribution it makes to the community while honoring the significance of education in a donor’s life. There are also tax benefits for creating a Scholarship Fund.

A Scholarship Fund is set up to help a specified group of people pay for education in a particular field.

Most funds are established in honor of a person, organization, business or family such as a memorial fund.

A Scholarship Fund is an excellent way to help deserving students pay for college. Scholarship Funds can be designated for any level of education, including post-graduate study.